Chapter 20: Home?

In this wind and snow, Xu Qing returned to the courtyard. Before he could even enter, he heard Lei Ting's happy laughter inside.

Accompanied by bursts of dog barking, Xu Qing, who pushed open the door, saw more than a dozen wild dogs in the courtyard.

They lay there, looking coldly at Xu Qing. Xu Qing also swept his gaze over them without emitting any sharp edge. Just with one glance, those dozen wild dogs all bristled and slowly retreated.

A soft sound of surprise came from Lei Ting's room.

As the door opened, Cross and Luan Ya walked out. After looking at Xu Qing and then at the dozen wild dogs, Cross smiled slightly.

"Kid, they say your malevolent Qi is very heavy," Luan Ya squatted down, gently stroked the head of a wild dog beside her, and said to Xu Qing with a smile.

Xu Qing said nothing and looked at Lei Ting, who was walking out of the room at this moment.

Lei Ting was wearing a thick fur coat, holding a tobacco pouch. As he walked out, he pointed at Luan Ya and said with some helplessness.

"This girl Luan Ya feels that I'm injured and is worried about my safety in the camp, so she insisted on sending these dozen wild dogs to guard the house."

This sentence was very simple, but Xu Qing understood it.

Lei Ting had not told them about Xu Qing, just as Xu Qing had not spoken of the singing, leaving it to Lei Ting to decide. Lei Ting also gave the right to decide whether to tell this matter to Xu Qing.

Xu Qing nodded, took out the leather bag containing the White Pills, and handed it to Lei Ting.

Lei Ting took it, looked at it, smiled, and didn't stand on ceremony.

"Alright, I do need this stuff, but don't buy it in the future. I have plenty of savings here, enough to buy it." After finishing, he looked at Cross.

"Cross, the kid is back too. If you have anything to say, you can say it."

Cross put away his smile, his expression became solemn, and he spoke slowly.

"Coming here this time, there are two things."

"The first is the captain's medicine. Luan Ya and I have already bought it, about a month's dosage. As for the rest, we will go buy it again after it's finished." As he spoke, Cross untied a leather bag from his waist and placed it to the side.

"The second thing is, because of the annihilation of the Blood Shadow team, although other scavengers also participated in the previous Seven-Leaf Grass picking, none of them had as much as us."

"Yesterday, Luan Ya and I went to the camp leader to hand over the task and received the reward, but... the camp leader habitually deducted it as usual and didn't give the three Dust-Clearing Pills, only giving one," Cross said, looking at Luan Ya.

Luan Ya took out four leather bags, placed them to the side, and then took out a wooden box. She opened it in front of everyone, revealing a green elixir the size of a pigeon egg inside.

A medicinal fragrance spread out; clearly, this elixir was much better than the White Pills.

"Man Gui has no relatives, so I took the liberty of dividing his share. These four leather bags contain our respective spirit coins. As for this Dust-Clearing Pill..."

Cross stopped here and looked at Lei Ting, waiting for his distribution.

"Give it to the kid," Lei Ting said calmly. At this moment, the momentum belonging to Captain Lei Ting seemed to have returned to him somewhat.

Cross nodded, and Luan Ya was stunned before becoming thoughtful. They had previously asked Lei Ting what happened in the jungle, but Lei Ting hadn't said. The distribution at this moment clearly gave the answer.

"As for Man Gui... dividing it is right; we are his relatives."

Lei Ting sighed softly and picked up his share. Cross and Luan Ya also picked up theirs. Xu Qing remained silent and also picked up the leather bag.

Regarding the Dust-Clearing Pill handed over by Luan Ya, Xu Qing took it and glanced at Lei Ting. Lei Ting's eyes were somewhat stern. This look made Xu Qing understand the meaning, so he silently put it away.

The four of them talked for a while longer, mainly the three of them, Cross, Luan Ya, and Lei Ting, while Xu Qing was as taciturn as ever, listening quietly from the side.

But whether it was Cross or Luan Ya, neither would ignore Xu Qing's existence, occasionally asking for his opinion.

Just like that, time passed, and soon noon arrived. As the wind and snow temporarily stopped, Cross and Luan Ya chose to say goodbye. Before leaving, Cross said to Xu Qing in a low voice.

"Kid, Luan Ya and I have accepted a mission and need to go out for a trip. During this time... the captain is left to you." As he spoke, he took out a dagger and handed it to Xu Qing.

"Your dagger is covered in rust; change to this one, it's very sharp."

Luan Ya also handed Xu Qing a whistle.

"Kid, your combat power is very strong, but you also need eyes and helpers, right? This whistle can simply control the wild dogs in the camp. If you need to, you can blow it. They are very smart and will know what to do."

The two gave some instructions, cupped their fists to Xu Qing, and said goodbye.

Watching their backs, Xu Qing put away the whistle and tucked the dagger given by Cross into his boot, but he didn't throw away his original one.

Then he looked up, gazing at their figures until Cross and Luan Ya disappeared at the end of his vision. Xu Qing turned his head to look at Lei Ting's room.

Half an hour later, he passed through the wild dogs and returned to his room.

Closing his eyes, he sat cross-legged.

The wind outside was very strong, forming a whimpering sound, blowing across the earth. The snow in the sky and the snow on the ground blended in mid-air, drilling through the gaps in the tents and houses, disturbing the people inside.

It also blew on Lei Ting, who was resting in the house, but he was already used to it and didn't pay attention to this cold wind.

However, the image of Xu Qing shrinking in the cold wind surfaced in his mind, so he turned his head to look in the direction of Xu Qing's room. After a long silence, he put on a fur hat and walked out of the house.

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, three days went by.

In these three days, it seemed as if the snowflakes wanted to use up their last strength, spreading their lingering cold, falling continuously. The snow on the ground didn't have time to melt and accumulated into a thick layer.

Although the climate was harsh, for scavengers, survival was more important than the cold.

Thus, the camp slowly became crowded with people, some continuing to see doctors, others heading to the forbidden zone.

At the same time, the fact that the Blood Shadow team had not returned for a long time slowly sparked discussion among the scavengers. It wasn't clear where the rumor came from, but it was said that the Blood Shadow team had been wiped out in the forbidden zone.

At first, not many people believed this rumor; after all, every member of the Blood Shadow team could not be underestimated.

Especially the Blood Shadow captain, who was a powerhouse among the scavengers in the camp. Such a person had gone to the forbidden zone I don't know how many times, so the possibility of being wiped out was not high.

But as time passed, another two days went by, and there was no trace of the Blood Shadow people at all, which made the scavengers in the camp gradually believe that rumor.

And they also remembered the day Lei Ting returned, his unconscious state.

Linking it to Man Gui's disappearance, everything seemed to have an answer.

And regardless of whether it was true or false, without the Blood Shadow, the current Lei Ting team was the strongest team in the camp.

So when Xu Qing went out these days, what he saw most were the awe-filled gazes from the scavengers around him.

He knew that these people were in awe of the Lei Ting team, not himself, but he didn't care about this matter. What he was puzzled about these days was that Lei Ting's figure was always leaving early and returning late, not knowing what he was busy with.

But Xu Qing knew that everyone was independent and there was no need to disturb them, and he himself had many things to do, so most of the time, Xu Qing was alone in his room, silently cultivating.

His cultivation base was also slowly improving under this effort, and his strength and speed were steadily increasing.

As for his own shadow, Xu Qing had also studied it many times.

But this shadow had never changed, only its absorption of foreign matter was as before, making the alienation points on Xu Qing's arm now completely gone.

The purity within his body made Xu Qing clearly feel that his cultivation speed was much faster than before.

Until the afternoon two days later, sitting cross-legged, preparing to stabilize his cultivation for a few more days before attempting to break through to the fourth layer of the Sea Mountain Technique, he frowned slightly and opened his eyes.

The wild dogs outside were barking, and the bamboo door was knocked.

Xu Qing, who walked out of the room, noticed that Lei Ting was not there. He looked outside the bamboo door and saw a scavenger standing there with a hesitant expression.

Xu Qing had seen this person before; he was one of the seven or eight people he had saved when he returned from the forbidden zone.

Upon noticing Xu Qing's figure appearing, the scavenger quickly cupped his fists.

"Brother Kid, it's me, I'm Bone Knife."

"What is it?" Xu Qing said calmly, expressionless.

"This..." Bone Knife hesitated, but after a simple thought, he gritted his teeth and spoke.

"Brother Kid, I want to use five White Pills to buy an insurance policy from you." As he spoke, he first threw a leather bag toward Xu Qing.

Xu Qing didn't catch it. He looked at Bone Knife in confusion. The leather bag thrown by the other party landed on the ground, and the wild dogs to the side all looked at it but didn't dare to approach.

Sensing Xu Qing's confusion, Bone Knife outside the bamboo door hurriedly explained, and listening to his words, Xu Qing gradually understood the meaning of the so-called insurance.

According to Bone Knife's meaning, he wanted Xu Qing to go to the area of the Poison Dragon Pool in the forbidden zone and save him like last time if he didn't return within three days.

"Brother Kid, I'm not worried about the beasts in the forbidden zone; dying in their mouths is fate. What I worry about most is the fog; dying in the fog is too unwilling."

Xu Qing's expression was a bit strange. He didn't expect the other party to make such a request, so he thought for a while and asked.

"What if there is no fog within three days, or you return early?"

"No need to return the elixirs; I'm just buying peace of mind," Bone Knife bowed deeply to Xu Qing, with pleading in his expression.

Xu Qing was silent. He looked at the leather bag, picked it up with his toe, and opened it to look.

Inside were five White Pills. Although he didn't need them, this was hard currency in the camp, so after thinking about it, he felt that this matter was not unfeasible.

So after pondering, Xu Qing nodded.

Seeing Xu Qing agree, Bone Knife breathed a sigh of relief, thanked him with cupped fists, and then left.

Xu Qing held the leather bag, his eyes narrowed. He was naturally vigilant, and he didn't fully believe the other party's words.

However, he felt that the possibility of it being a trap was not high.

Because if the fog didn't rise, he could choose not to go, and if the other party could calculate the time of the fog rising three days in advance, such an ability wouldn't need to calculate others like this.

But he still remained cautious and planned to make a decision when the time came.

So he turned and returned to his room, continued to sit cross-legged, and the night passed.

The next morning, Xu Qing, who had just finished his cultivation, looked outside his room. He heard the sound of dogs barking outside.

When he walked out, Xu Qing saw a strange scene. Lei Ting was packing things, tying large and small bundles onto the wild dogs, making those wild dogs stick out their tongues, and a few bodies were almost pressed to the ground.

"Finished cultivating? Let's go, I'll take you to a place."

Lei Ting wiped his sweat, said with a smile, then patted the wild dog beside him, opened the bamboo door, and beckoned to Xu Qing.

Xu Qing was puzzled, followed, and those wild dogs also followed behind. Just like that, two people and a group of dogs moved forward in this camp.

From the middle ring to the inner ring area, there were many shops here, and the houses were mostly brick and tile, looking very sturdy.

Until they arrived in front of a large courtyard, inside which were four independent brick and tile houses, each one much better than where Xu Qing had lived before, sturdier and tighter.

Looking at this place, Xu Qing turned to look at Lei Ting.

"From now on, this is our new home," Lei Ting said with a smile.

"New home?" Xu Qing was stunned. The word "home" gave him a familiar yet strange feeling.

"I've been busy for most of my life and have quite a few savings. Now that my body isn't working, I might as well change to a big house and enjoy it."

Lei Ting laughed heartily, walked first, took the bundles off the wild dogs, and began to get busy.

Xu Qing stood there. Half an hour later, he slowly walked in. Looking at the blue bricks on the ground and the houses in front of him, he was a bit dazed. Until he was called by Lei Ting to help, he was still somewhat unaccustomed.

After half a day of busyness, when night fell again, the cold wind was still outside, the wind and snow were still there, and the whimpering sound rose and fell. Xu Qing and Lei Ting sat by the fireplace in the house. The heat rushed toward their faces, and a sense of warmth permeated the entire room.

There were no gaps in the walls here, and the cold wind couldn't drill in at all. Xu Qing quickly noticed this and felt his body was warm.

"Not cold anymore, right?" Lei Ting smiled.

"Yes, not cold anymore." Xu Qing nodded. When he looked at Lei Ting, under the reflection of the fireplace, there seemed to be a glimmer of light in Xu Qing's eyes.

He was indeed not cold anymore. In this warmth, Xu Qing even felt a tremor deep in his heart.

For a long, long time, when Lei Ting left and returned to his room, Xu Qing approached the fireplace alone and murmured in a low voice.

"Home?"

At this moment, in the house to the side, Lei Ting, who had returned to his room, had a smile remaining on his face, but soon his complexion became somewhat flushed.

He covered his mouth and coughed a few times. Half an hour later, he swallowed the fishy saltiness in his mouth with effort, sighed softly, stood in front of the window, looked up at the direction of the forbidden zone, with memories in his eyes, and murmured in a low voice.

"I really want to... go take another look."

I don't know if everyone likes these two chapters. I personally like them very much. Both slaughter and warmth need to exist to unfold the scroll together. If either side is unbalanced, the article will lose some flavor. ===== CHAPTER 21 =====